rv_sw2nw: August 2 and 3

Yesterday we left early in the morning to drive the 250+ miles to Crescent, Oregon and the Big Pines RV Park. We arrived shortly after noon and John and Evan took off fishing, but they came home empty handed.

This morning we left early for Crater Lake National Park which is the deepest lake in the US, fed by rain and snow, but not rivers or streams. It is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world and is a intense blue color. The lake rests within a caldera formed over 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot tall volcano collapsed. Here's an image John captured of the western side of the caldera--Wizard Island. The Island is 6940 ft tall and is one of four volcanos within the lake.

I captured another view of Wizard Island just as we were leaving the park.

Here is the lake from the opposite side, showing part of the caldera.

We spent the day driving the 33 mile rim and stopping at all the pullouts. Here are a few of the wonders:

John and Evan when we first arrived with Wizard Island in the background.

This is around Grotto Cove--the rocks are covered with moss in some areas like the trees in the rain forest, as evidence in the background

It snows over 500 inches a year at the lake and the roads were 100 % opened on July 9! Can you imagine? On the way to our picnic lunch the boys filled the cooler from this snowbank right beside the road. John is over 6 foot tall, so there you have it.

Vidae Falls is a cascading waterfall fed by spring creeks and it drops over 100 feet. John got ole Evan in his shades here.

The valleys have "Pinnacles" which are spires which are described as "Fossil Fumaroles" which marked spots where volcanic gas rose up through hot ash deposits, cementing the ash into solid rock. In NM we have Tent Rocks which are formed from sandstone and they are very smooth on the surface. These are very rough and rocky.